The main reason for Chelsea looking to offload Fernando Torres are his wages, but that also makes him almost impossible to move. Recent rumors linking the Spanish striker to Valencia might make sense from a footballing standpoint, but financially this deal just doesn’t make sense.

Valencia aren’t selling their best striker, Roberto Soldado, because of some immense pressure and a growing desire on his side to leave. They’re in huge debt, some saying as much as €400 million, forcing them to once again give up on one of their best players, like they have over the last four seasons with David Silva, David Villa, Juan Mata and now, probably Roberto Soldado to Tottenham for €30 million.

How does Fernando Torres fit into all of this? He doesn’t, really. But when looking for potential replacements, Torres will always be linked with some move back to Spain, and he’s obviously someone Chelsea are willing to let go of his services for the right offer.

While a transfer fee is the less important issue here, his wages take center stage. Torres makes £9.3 million a season, which sorta made sense when he was signed from Liverpool for £50 million, but becomes one huge waste of money when he goes on 20-match scoring droughts once or twice each season.

And while that kind of salary is a burden, Chelsea can afford it. Valencia? Obviously not, and Chelsea are going to look for some sort of compensation; they aren’t planning on letting Torres go for free, despite his very poor scoring record.

At the moment, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Torres as the third striker in Chelsea’s rotation, although it’s too soon to distinguish starters from bench players just yet. Chelsea might even bring in another forward (Wayne Rooney), although at least for now, things are quiet on that front.

Torres will never find the confidence he needs to be a consistently good striker once again while he’s at Chelsea. Even if the problem with him isn’t physical (and match after match you can see that his athleticism, speed and movement just aren’t at the same level they used to be earlier on in his career), staying on a club with so many disappointments, mostly individual, attached to him, seems like too much of a burden to bear.

Chelsea hit & miss almost three years ago on Torres, massively. All of their success on the European stage that followed has something to do with him, but not by that much; not with something that justifies the price they paid for him. While they would love to find a way to get rid of his sulking figure and horrible salary, it seems like they are going to have to wait until his contract runs out in 2016.

Valencia? They have huge problems threatening the existence of the club, and go well beyond the identity of their next striker. Whoever it may be, Fernando Torres simply can’t be it, because Valencia, and almost every other club in the world, can’t afford to have him.